Yes it was a penalty, and by the letter of the law a red card, but that doesn't mean the law isn't stupid. He tried to make a save, made some contact and Robben made the most of it. It wasn't a deliberate foul and this rule has to change.

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3: Bacary Sagna

6

arseblog

6.5

Readers

Season average: 0

2

Tried his hardest.

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4: Per Mertesacker

6

arseblog

7

Readers

Season average: 6

3

Tried his hardest.

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6: Laurent Koscielny

6

arseblog

7

Readers

Season average: 7

5

Tried his hardest - shouldn't have gone chasing up-field for that late free kick though.

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3: Kieran Gibbs

6

arseblog

6.5

Readers

Season average: 6.5

23

Was playing well until his hamstring went, will be a loss.

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20: Mathieu Flamini

6

arseblog

7

Readers

Season average: 5.5

16

Got caught a bit for their second but was asked to fill at centre-half when Koscielny pushed forward. <a href="https://vine.co/v/MZdFO9gLbvO" target="_blank">Enjoyed the Alaba penalty miss</a>.

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10: Jack Wilshere

6

arseblog

6.5

Readers

Season average: 6

9

Tried his hardest.

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11: Mesut Özil

5

arseblog

5

Readers

Season average: 6

28

Really poor penalty, but accusations of laziness aren't on - only Flamini ran further. While there's no doubt he can play better, complaining that one of the best attacking midfielders in the world isn't a good auxiliary left back seems to be missing the point somewhat.

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19: Santi Cazorla

6

arseblog

6

Readers

Season average: 6.5

15

Hauled off after the red card, hard to really rate.

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15: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

6

arseblog

7

Readers

Season average: 6.5

12

Tried his hardest, taken off because he was carrying a knock.

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22: Yaya Sanogo

6

arseblog

7

Readers

Season average: 5

18

Tried his hardest – but still a major surprise that he started this game ahead of Giroud, and for all the love-in he's too raw to be playing in a game as big as this.

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18: Nacho Monreal

5

arseblog

5

Readers

Season average: 6.5

14

Struggled, but was often left with two men to deal with, even when he had some help, Bayern had three men out there all night.

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21: Lukasz Fabianski

6

arseblog

7

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Season average: 0

17

Did his best to keep Bayern at bay, but could do nothing with the second.

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7: Tomas Rosicky

6

arseblog

6

Readers

Season average: 6.5

6

Came on, got booked, left the shoulder in on someone and ran around a bit.

I couldn’t agree with you less Mr Shaaban.
Ozil is not a c@%t.
He is i a very talented footballer, who had a difficult game last night.
People who use your type of language to describe our hard working players are foul and have no positive connection with our club.
I was making a pun on LANS but it came more negative than I meant, and encouraged idiots to use abusive terms.
I regret that I have encouraged your type of bile.

Haven’t been an Ozil critic before as he’s just settling in to his first season with the club, so should give him time. But I thought that yesterday was pretty poor.
People are saying that ‘defending isn’t his forte’
Then others are saying ‘he had nobody to pass to’
When you are one of the world’s best and most expensive players, I’d hope that EITHER you can dig in and defend hard OR keep something going when you get the ball.
I think absolving him of criticism on both fronts is a mistake.
What I found particularly disappointing was his petulance towards Flamini’s instructions.
We know he has the talent, but the talent won’t come out until the attitude is better.

Love him or loathe him, Mourhino wouldn’t have stood for his first half performance last night and especially after the sending-off, should have brought him off and not Santi, who at least does some chasing around defensively. Oncde the Ox was struggling with a knock, he should’ve brough Rozza on earlier too. As usual, Wenger has no Plan B when Plan A goes off the rails.

Have to agree with you. As far as I am concerned, Rosicky is a better player. He can split defences with his passes, is great defensively and always runs his socks off. If Ozil is worth £42M, then Rosicky is worth £60M.

No I think the point with Arshavin was that he never even tracked back and never ran around putting a shift in.

Ozil on the other hand – as the numbers show, ran around a lot last night, and as we often saw was back defending. I think the point is Ozil at least did try to defend at times but we can’t blame a number 10 for not being a capable left back can we? It’s like blaming Rio Ferdinand for being a crap striker and qualifying it with, “well he cost £30mil!”

I don’t read anything into those stats that say he ran the second hardest working Arsenal player last night. By my book, jogging around the pitch at half pace making token attempts to close people down does not mean he ‘worked hard’. Lack of effort is not excused by the fact that he is a ‘creative player’. Personally, I’m getting a bit fed up with Ozil.

Been following this blog for ages, from my point of view you guys offer the best reviews of Arsenal’s games – criticise and defend the right points and never over sensationalise stuff. Sick of fans pointing fingers at Ozil for the recent games, some even wanting him to be benched. Honestly, its like criticising usain bolt for not attempting for the 400m or 800m world record. That said, theres no argument about his penalty take though. But for me the biggest frustration was the way we conceded the 2nd goal. with minutes left, Kos broke and went on a risky run upfield – it paid off, we got a free kick at the halfway line. But why would Wilshere try to then pick him up with a lousy long ball into their penalty box when theres really only him and Sanogo up there, and Bayern’s was considerably high up the pitch? I was screaming at the TV “NO!!!!!!” and the rest just unfolded like how i imagined it would. The build up to the game was all the talk of how Arsenal would have learned and build upon last year’s corresponding fixture, not to lose the tie by being too eager to win it. But was the lesson really learnt? Just a few more minutes of discipline would have given us a much much better chance of progressing in the competition, 2 away goals at Allianz is some what improbable now. We’ve done it last year, we can only hope they have not learned their lesson too.

I genuinely feel embarrassed to support the same club as some of our supporters…
To read all the clueless shit about Özil just because he’s having a hard time, even after a game that wouldn’t suit any nr.10 in the world.
People on Twitter saying that Giroud shouldn’t be starting a game again as Sanogo is the new big thing, but a month ago he was a flop, having barley played.

This is making me way more depressed than the fact we lost 2-0, with 10 men, against one of the greatest teams ever, even though we could have got a result on a better day.

Sadly they don’t. Group of guys behind me in the queue for Highbury & Islington were just slagging Ozil off for about 10 minutes straight. Sure he looked a bit lethargic (not that I blame him), but when you’re actually saying one of the best players in the world is shit and a waste of £42 million… well, I don’t know what can be done for you.

Proud of the hard work our lads put in tonight. On to Sunderland.

(And huge thanks to REDaction for the cards. Actually got goosebumps when I saw the East Stand put theirs up)

He’s obviously not exempt from criticism, but he’s also a proven world-class talent. So when he’s in a run of shit form, as he certainly is at the moment, you don’t say “he’s fucking useless, sell him to Doncaster” like a reactionary muppet. He put in a shift as the numbers prove, but his penalty was dismal and he’s not having the influence we’d like at the moment. But he IS trying, despite the preconceptions pushed as fact (and belied by the actual stats). So by all means dish out the criticism he deserves, but have some perspective.

If that makes me a “prat” in the eyes of some no-mark on the internet, so be it.

Look, I don’t agree with Shaaban calling our players cunts, that is just not on. But I would like to know by what objective measure you are basing Ozil as being world class. He probably was good enough in Spain to be considered ‘world class’, but Spain is a lesser league, and he had Ronaldo alongside him. When you have Ronaldo in your team all you have to do is pass it to him on the halfway line and you’ll probably get 10 assists a season, just because he does the rest.

If Ozil had not come to England with his reputation, or his price tag, could you honestly look at his performances in an Arsenal shirt and say he is world class? Surely not. So how long is he going to be allowed to underperform? Did not Andriy Shevchenko arrive in England as ‘world class’? But it didn’t take us long to laugh at how shit he turned out to be. Same with Torres, he was world class at Liverpool, look at the mug now.

You can’t just belittle anyone who dares say Ozil is playing really really shit at the moment, and probably doesn’t deserve to be in the team. No one wants Ozil to fail, but he has got to buck up his ideas, and to me that starts with demonstrating work rate and effort and passion.

Out of 20 outfield players last night, he covered the third most amount of ground. That’s a pretty decent metric for assessing his work rate as acceptable in my opinion.

You’re not wrong that he hasn’t shown world class form at Arsenal, but I am firmly of the belief that if we stick with him, he will regain it. But that’s not to say I think we should play him constantly, regardless of his form. Personally, I’d drop him for the Sunderland game (and possibly the Stoke game).

I’m not sure I’d agree that La Liga is a lesser league, and that Ozil was consistently top of the assists charts wasn’t due to Ronaldo. When he came to Arsenal there’s no doubt he was world class, and in my opinion he’s too good not to recapture that form. I couldn’t give two shits if he runs around kicking people/wiping his arse with Sp*rs shirts/sucking off Gunnersaurus or whatever you define as “passion”, he can look miserable as fuck for all I care as long as he delivers in goals/assists/influence.

He played well as long as we had some offense going before the red card. Both teams missed a penalty, it’s not unusual. The red card was the thing that cost us the game, not Özil, not the subbing of Oxlade, not Koscielny going up for a freekick. Take heart that we kept the best team in the world at bay for 40 minutes and then a real wholehearted effort to keep them from scoring out of control for 60.

While I agree with what you are saying, our spirits seemed to have been broken after our Penalty miss. That is what worried me. In the first 10 minutes we made them look VERY average. Once we missed the Penalty, the players looked like they had just lost their chance to win the game. That’s when I knew we lost the game. We’re still in it though! COYG!

Well said lad. I wouldn’t worry about it though, anyone who knows their stuff realises how good Ozil is and judging by the reactions to their and your comments, that’s most gooners.

Just finished watching the first half. Ozil’s penalty miss was hugely disappointing but the fact we regressed backward as a team afterwards and let Bayern take control was more disappointing. I don’t mean that in a critical sense, I know when we lost Fabregas and Nasri in one summer we had to adopt our game to be more practical. I just feel now with the players we have at our disposal again it’s time we stopped playing it long and started playing it out on the ground from the back again. We certainly have the players to do it. Once we started playing it long we lost possession regularly allowing Bayern to take the initiative and dominate the game. We’re fucking more than able to outpass any team out there.

I don’t think we played long per se. We stood them off whenever they got the ball. That’s absolutely reasonable. Say we take the ball, Sanogo and Ox run forward, Flamini and Jack pass to each other through the lines and look to pick out a run or give it to Ozil further forward. Up front we’d be short by one man, so we’d need an outstanding moment of individual brilliance to be a threat from open play. Our defensive line would need to push up to support, and being one man down, if they intercept and get the ball, they’ll transition, having us chase the ball into our own third.

Thing is this a 180 minutes tie and we basically decided being 10 against 11, and those 11 being Bayern Munich, we’d best try and keep them out until half time (the end of the first leg).

Can’t really be too critical of any individuals, I thought the whole team put in a fantastic shift in the circumstances. Wenger was justified with his team selection, Sanogo and especially the Ox were brilliant in the opening half hour. I can’t remember us playing so well in an opening since the Napoli game. Too bad the rule stinks and the game was ruined as a spectacle.

While Özil did miss the penalty (Which he shouldn’t have been taking) he wasn’t as bad as people are saying. Yes, he wasn’t good defensively, but he is not that kind of player. In my opinion he should have been taken off once we went down to 10, because it is not in his DNA to make challenges and defend players like Robben. We signed him to do what he did in the opening 20 minutes, where he was making some great runs and playing some good balls.

Let’s not forget we were playing the best team in Europe, certainly not disgraced. Hopefully we pick up some points with a few favourable League fixtures and go to Munich still in the title hunt (and hopefully with an FA Cup Semi-Final place). If that’s the case and we can play like we did in that opening, who knows.

Plus hopefully Gibbs’ injury isn’t too bad, that was a big blow tonight, he was so good early.

It was so frustrating when Arsene took off Chamberlain for Rosicky.
I felt Ozil should’ve made way and Rosicky should’ve gone on the left.
That isn’t a slight on Ozil’s performance, but as you said it’s not in Ozil’s game to play like that and Bayern knew that which is why they targeted our left flank in the second half.
Sagna and Chamberlain had the right sown up so why not put the tireless Rosicky in front of Monreal to shore that side up?

If not for the injury and the red card, we most likely would have seen Giroud at some point. About his not starting, maybe his mind’s not right after the week he’s having in the media so far, or at least Wenger is trying to shield him (ironically by starting a much less experienced striker and raising eyebrows and attention) or [hopefully not in this manner] punish him for the curfew violation.

Giroud has good one touch play skills but… he cannot dribble! And his work rate is not double that of Sanogo… the young guy did well, too much raw for that kind of game but still, he did pretty good regarding the context.

Showed a ton of fight against the best team in the world, especially after the red. I questioned the Flamini signing but I’m happy to say I was wrong about him. Has shown an unbelievable amount of fight and winning spirit all season, desperately needed from last year.

Wasn’t Ozil’s best game but he is still world class and will come good. Bonus points to Szczesny for the gesture.

I think you’ll find that key pass and chance creation statistics (i.e. passes like the one to Chamberlain leading to the 2nd goal in the cup game) will tell a much more accurate story of his performances recently… He’s not been at his best, but better than you are claiming!

what ozil needs is a runner in front of him to bring out his killer passes. his first game in arsenal colours where he made series of passes to walcot whom would have score hattrick if he was more accurate with his shooting. in Real Madrid he had runners like CR7, benzenma, and others to pick out and not a slow runner like giroud

We showed a lot of heart today. All the guys. Sometimes life serves up a shit sandwich and all you can do is chow down and smile. Ozil and Monreal were overrun all night on the left flank. There wasn’t much they could do about it. This would have been a great night to have vermaelin come on as a left back. Bon apetite.

Rami, reading all your comments here I get the picture you don’t like Ozil at the moment? Here’s an idea…next time you watch our game, just look away from the screen everytime Ozil touches the ball – hopefully that will your enhance your viewing experience and make you a happier bunny!

Bit harsh on ol’ Yaya. He was the definition of isolated in the second half, but kept grafting. In the opening 20 minutes he showed some good touches. One in particular was excellent when he shielded the ball, took a touch to get it out of his feet and away from two Bayern defenders, then pinged a 25 yard ball over to Ox, who almost made it through for a 1 one 1.

He’s not the finished article, no shit, but we can see now why Arsene bought the kid.

If you take into consideration after the sending off we had only one substitute to make in the second half I think we made a very good team look ordinary.
And if you look at the bench we had firepower to make the difference so all is not lost we have been here before.

I hate moaning about squad depth..but Giroud was too knackered both on and off the pitch to play tonight, Sanogo is totally raw and unproven and Poldolski clearly does not have the backing of Arsene.. Arguably our biggest game of the season against arguably the best team in the world.. Surely the Arsenal should have someone to put upfront who has the ability to so something?! I have found myself wishing we had a Dzeko or Balotelli and that is depressing!

Take it easy big man. We’re in the run of building a team. To get this far this fast has been brilliant. Even this Bayern team was years in the making before they hit their real stride last year. We all know we need a Robben/Ribery, we all know we need a striker, we all know we need backup on DM/RB/CB. Things like this takes time.

Let’s sit back and enjoy the season we’re having. More money will be put into new players in the summer.

Szczesny was harshly penalised and his save in the first 5 minutes was world class. Also, Fabianski had no chance with either goal and did well otherwise. I rated both keepers higher based on their performances.

A bit harsh on Sanogo….considering it’s his Champions league debut, thought he deserved a seven and was brilliant in the first 30 mins…good link up play, worked the GK, lovely dinked through-ball for the OX, who was also excellent…don’t see how his rawness was such a big factor here, and don’t see how Giroud would have offered much more tonight

I was waiting for this comment. He maybe raw and all but his performance before the red was quite satisfactory for me, in fact I was pleasantly surprised when he made that good pass to the Ox, and there was a moment he dribbled a bit. Giroud might have done better but at this stage I have a few doubts about that. The boy did well for 30 mins.

Defended like troopers
Prayedy for a one nil but there were tired legs out there
Oh well! Rambo will be back for the return leg and Ozil will have his sidekick

I must say being at the Emirates tonight was awesome, but again we failed through sheer bad luck

PS: Redaction….well done
PPS: Ozil need a month off. Sacrifice him Arsene, play Santi. let him play in his preferred role like last year,
Still buzzing like a battery toy, what a night, shame about the result

Yes, Robben is shit and Wilshere, Ozil and co were Gods, yeah? Couldn’t keep possession for 10 secs, can’t complete a simple pass (or combine) in oppn. half under pressing and rushing ridiculously back after losing the ball and sitting deep in our box like some relegation fodder and just relying on counter-attacks – what do you think will eventually happen when Oppn. has this much possession? 9/10 times, they will win. And that is what inevitably happened. Oh and I’m talking even before the sending off… It was sheer luck (and our superb defense, esp. Kos) the match ended 2-0.

But the real culprit of course is Wenger.. In his desperation to not want to concede, he has abandoned def. high line, high pressing, possession under pressure and all hallmarks that define a great team -asking players like Jack, Ozil, Santi and other midgets to defend near the box (for the whole game) when they are natural ball carriers and passers comfortable in possession… Make no mistake, no self-respecting attcking player in a ‘big team’ would like/endure it for 90 mins coz. they know it will 9 out of 10 times ultimately unravel.. Still wondering why Kos rushed out the way he did – to show the level of respect we showed Bayern was collective suicide – we are not some fucking minnows!!!

If this is all Arsenal can be, sayonara Wenger – please leave at the end of this year. Only hope players will reward you with one real trophy by this season end by sheer defensive graft..

The Chairman will then invite you to join and interact with a new panel who will engage in recruitng a new manager because of your team and coaching ideas and strategies, enabling the club to advance faster, more competitive

I think as a season ticket holder who buy all the merchandising you have a stake in the managerial decision, so please do the right thing.

Comment pages can be satirical, mean,nasty, clever, obnoxious, and occasionally one has to be brave and write in their best syntax their true feelings. Alas the recipient of your thoughts will never see them,

My gran often said to me
“Control the controllables in your life”
Neither you nor I will have an impact on the departure of Arsene
His earn the right to do what he feels is best for the club, and will continue to do so

@maddolove: Whether you know it or not (or like to admit or not), every Arsenal supporter, home or overseas, does influence the club and everything associated with it in direct and subtle ways.. Never underestimate the potential of a single proponent in influencing entire mobs – I would love to add “look at Hitler” as an example but it is more appropriate here to say “look at Blogs” If tomorrow, Blogs fully denounces Wenger, you will see many converts to that stand slowly but surely..

But most powerful are the ones on the ground on match-days- do you believe that their pleadings of “spend some f**king money” after the Villa defeat at home didn’t make Wenger panic-buy Ozil by breaking the bank which we were led to believe didn’t have enough? Isn’t our fantastic home support this season not a reason for our record at home?

“His earn the right to do what he feels is best for the club, and will continue to do so” – he earns it from the supporters as we give him that right. You better believe it when I say we can take it back..

It seems I’m one of the only fans who felt a bit of pride in our performance tonight? We more than matched them 11 v 11. We could’ve had 3 on the first 15 mins?! The 2 turning points were the missed pen and the red card. The Muller goal was frustrating, though. Why was he left so open?!?

How can you be proud when you are an ‘Arsenal’ supporter (under Wenger) and can’t see them hold possession for more than 5 secs at a stretch?

Every right-thinking supporter should be embarrassed by this performance (and this morbid fear of conceding which makes us pay too much respect for the opponents’ quality). People will immediately show the ‘Pool display and say we will be ripped apart if we play the high line and high pressing but truth is all big teams have this problem but they are not parking the bus (like we did) as a solution, are they? Frankly, that is what Wenger is paid for to address also and which he has repeatedly failed to resolve..

1. Stupid @KingKolo – stop nit-picking as long as you get the point..
2. My commitment to Arsenal is total which is why I still follow them 16 years later (I’m sure your age is less than that no). Course, my commitment to the manager is variable – frankly what do you expect after this trophy drought, selling of our best players and lastly and recently, outright sell-out of basic footballing philosophy?

Think Sanogo’s rating is harsh he maybe raw but should not get marked down for Wenger starting him. Outstanding in that first 30 mins. I liked it when he intercepted a pass in the first few mins and ran at the Bayern defence seems an age since one of our strikers has done that.

I prefer my football raw if that is what I get from Sanogo than Giroud.
Giroud needs to sit down and think about his football than anything else. What I saw from Sanogo was very very good and if he plays like that under pressure then I cant wait to see him perform well on league games.
I am so glad for him. Yes I was shocked he got selected but boy he is something. More of him please.

Quite surprised at the player ratings. I thought that the lads gave there all in extremely testing circumstances and actually did very well against an outstanding team. Probably surprise a few of you, but I think we can take a hell of a lot of positives from that game. The spirit and work rate was excellent and if we play like that for the rest of the season we’ll do the double, no doubt about it in my mind.

Shame abaout the result. But still felt this was our best start to a game since THE Napoli game. The pressing and movement was superb in the opening 20 min. If we can bring that to the league, i really feel that we have gained something from this game.

Indecisive penalty strike changed the mood, harsh red card changed the game. Had the makings of a classic and we were all deprived of that. The lads seemed really up for it, wouldn’t be surprised to see a spiky effort (with a big old target on that divey little bastard) in the return leg. Gibbs will be a huge loss, difference between first and second choice at both fullback spots a bit worrying. Have a feeling we would have seen Little Mozart, HFB, and Serge but for the red and hammy issues forcing Arsene’s hand. Would have been a handful for those imperious Bavarians. Damn.

Ozil has made a dog’s meal of his last two PKs. It just proves that some gifted players are no good from the spot (just as some superstar basketball players cannot hit free throws). Next time just leave it to someone else.

It was encouraging for a change to see us come out in attack mode vs what has become our too common tactic of sitting back and playing slow. Really had some great chances, but even without the red card would have been tough to keep that level up the whole match. I think the big reason Sanogo started was his mobility and defense and speed on the counter attack as Wenger knew it would be like playing Barcelona with Pep where we’d have to chase much of the match.

I can’t remember when Gibbs has played for at least two months without picking up a foot or a muscular injury. He is just far too brittle to be counted on full-time. Monreal does well against certain types of opponents, but as we’ve seen can be eaten alive by faster attacking teams. If Gibbs is out for a long period we could have some issues with the March run of matches.

First, I think that currently the biggest difference between Sanago and Giroud is that Giroud’s play was quite predictable recently, he takes the ball through cb’s very rarely.

Concerning Monreal, while he has some flaws, I think he had a very, very good game yesterday – for 60 minutes he defended robben with the ball on his leg and while some people think that robben is a very good player, they looked at least equal and Robben hadn’t done anything really interesting from the flank.

Well played to the lads. Tough game but don’t get that people are slagging off Ozil. There was no one around for him to pass the ball. He was at least running and trying to do something. Monreal was clueless and was getting skinned. Sanogo was disappointing – no visible when team was under pressure. Giroud would have won headers while defending. We really need a dominating mid-fielder and some width…this team is NOT lazy but currently missing an engine to retain the ball against good quality opposition and drive forward. i still prefer this team over last few years as no passengers on this team

Agreed. We badly need something akin to Walcott or the Ox down the left wing and a commanding Def Mid for next season. Not blaming Sanogo when he had no service after Szes was sent off. Ozil need options (i.e. runners) to get the best out of him – like he has with Germany and had with Madrid. Not overly disappointed and saw a lot from two young players (Ox and Sanogo) to encourage me.

Was behind the goal for their penalty, never shouted so loud. Think Ozil shouldn’t be allowed to take penalties, Neuer knew in advance where he was aiming, and the shot had no power even though Neuer dived in advance. Great game though, shame about red card and poor ref about Boateng not getting a second yellow. The crowd was great even after Ozil missing the pen. COYG

definitely proud of tonight’s performance, different game had Ozil scored. we were playing what many consider to be the best team in the world right now. what really bugs me is how pundits can lay into Ozil and the Arsenal performance, yet man city were considered unlucky last night and pundits had not many bad words to say about them. RTE ripped Arsenal, Ozil and Wenger apart calling for the sack. Outrageous. We could have perhaps had our own 2-0 victory tonight had Ozil knocked in the penalty
WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL WE DO…….

think the ratings are a little low, some very good performances tonight. Also surprised by the Sanogo comment; yes, he’s clearly raw, but I was very impressed and to be honest, thought he did a better job than Giroud could have.

I`m really proud of our boys, we played better beeing 11, and with one man down a 0-2 is not the worst result, we are speaking of bayern here, a team that won 7-0 on agg vs barcelona last year! with a 2nd leg performance like 2 years ago vs milan and bayern last year i`m confident we can make it through to the next round! COYG!!!

Not quite why some supporters are so quick to call for Ozil to be substituted. Not just tonight but on a number of occasions this season when he’s been poor.

Irrespective of how badly he’s played recently, he made it abundantly clear that he chose Arsenal based on Wenger’s faith in him as a player. Does he still deserve that faith from the manager if he’s playing poorly? Of course he does! By substituting him or not playing him based on his performances (or a missed penalty), I suspect it would have far bigger ramifications on and off the pitch than a few ugly performances in his first season as a marquee signing in English football.

Just as he’s done with Ramsey, Wilshere, Kos etc when the chips are down, Wenger will stick with Ozil – especially if that’s the reason he’s with us in the first place! Onto Sunderland.

I thnk we’re being a bit lenient on Ozil but then I think a lot of fans are being way too hard. Regardless of whether he’s one of the best attacking midfielders in the world or not there’s little excuse for the lackadaisical approach to the penalty (again) and for the fact he rarely if ever tried to tackle.

Blogs, you’ve slated people yourself for that fact in the past. I remember Walcott a few years ago taking no end of grief for less than that from you and others.

I thought Fabianski deserved more than a 6 as well despite letting in two goals. A couple of the saves he made were cracking and some scorching shots that just went wide he seemed to have covered when lesser keepers would’ve let them go past without a thought of diving to cover.

It’s a great shame that Podolski is being frozen out. With Giroud knackered, Walcott and Rambo crocked, and Cazorla still not quite finding his range, we really need his finishing ability more than ever. If we can’t find a place for him, there are plenty of teams who will, and I would be sorry to see him go without being given a decent opportunity. Despite his limited chances, he’s still looked sharp to me when he’s played. Am fearful we might live to regret his underuse. I love Ozil (though not his penalty tonight), but I honestly think it’s time to take him out of the firing line for a bit. We could do much worse than move Cazorla central and play Poldi on the left.

How can I not be depressed?! Fuck the ratings, they don’t matter. I just can’t get the penalty miss out of my mind. We were driving those cunts further and further back, and we could have 2 or 3 up shortly after if we score that penalty. We’re not going to Munich and putting in another 2-0 performance…Bayern will know to put us under the cosh from the start..tonight was our chance.

What’s that doc? Yea I’ll need that prescription. What? No it’s not because of my childhood. Well actually I have supported Arsenal since I was a child. Huh? Really? A key to the cabinet? No prescription needed? Thanks for understanding Doctor.

I thought we played fuckin spectacular until the red card. Sitting in my basement alone, I was singing along with the crowd I was that excited by how we were moving the ball around. My family thought I was insane, but who gives a shit. Ozil was a spectacle to watch in the first 25 min, shame he missed the penalty but that’s life. The Ox shouldn’t be considered a revelation, since we all knew of his qualities, but damn he looks dangerous. This may be a disheartening result, but the performance is certainly very encouraging. COYG

So you’re chasing the game and the only way you can get a goal is via a counter attack. Takes off Chamberlain, keeps on Ozil. SMH. Rosicky should have started. When will the boss have the guts to drop or let’s just say rest Ozil. FFS he’s knackered and in atrocious form.

Ozil never looked like scoring that pen, against one of the best between the sticks. But I can also see the impact this would have had on his influence on the game had that gone in.
I remember Mert’s first campaign in the EPL and thinking he is way off the mark and completely useless in the back, but I think now me and many more fellow gunners have been proven wrong on so many levels, I can only hope and im sure this is the case with Ozil.
lets face it after the Anfield result a 2-0 deficit against the best team in the world currently aint too bad. and not to mention we’re still in it, anything is possible in Munich. COYG!!!

Like Bergkamp @ Villa Park’99………………….the Ozil miss is crushing and leaves you wondering what might have been. It is infuriating to see such a technical gifted footballer miss from twelve yards, especially when the keeper doesn’t even have to pull a worldy to keep it out.

In my opinion, Ozil has disappointed more than delighted since he arrived, but like many of our imported ‘Greats’ in the Wenger era, this is his first season and he’s only 25 years of age, so improvement next term is guaranteed, particularly for a player of his ability.

Out of the CL for sure, but given City are too and Chelsea will go through, it now makes for a fascinating title run-in.

Gotta totally disagree with the Ozil rating. He ran his ass off, sure, towards the offensive end…probably trying to make up for his penalty puff. Any time he was asked to defend, he was lazy, disinterested, and culpable for chance after Bayern chance. When Jack Wilshere is taking someone to task over a lack of sensible defending…

Ozil isn’t the villain some are making him out to be, but he was clearly the least-invested defender when we needed nine outfielders to be brave. He turned away from multiple shots instead of absorbing the contact. No way I rate him any higher than a 2 tonight. I really think it his worst game in an Arsenal shirt.

Surprised at the criticism floating around. The boys took it to them in the first 20 minutes even after the missed penalty we were creating the better chances. I was fucking buzzing watching that shit it seemed like our team had turned a corner, if we can harness that type of energy, movement and aggression for the rest of the season we are going to fuck some shit up!

Additionally, Sanogo is exciting he just has so much more to offer then Giroud and this is only his second game. I am surprised that he is not copping more praise from blogs and fans in general. I for one having a raging hard on about it all. Love this team and if tonight is anything to go by we are on the cusp on pushing in to the elite of europe. That may seem counter intuitive considering we lost, but the way we lost was unlucky and the way we started was inspired! This team is young talented and learning fast, with the addition of a steely mother fucker in CDM and some depth up front we are going to be special. Love it

Re: ArsenalFan….this is what happens when you give moronic fans a platform to speak…they keep abusing the hospitality of this blog with ill-conceived, thick-as-two-short-planks view points. The fact that we were down to ten men for most of the match makes no difference to them….the fact that we were magnificent 11 v 11..makes no difference to them…the fact that we were playing the current european champions, of course, makes no difference to them. They just keep riding the “Wenger out horse”, not having noticed it bolted from the stalls a long time ago..WE’RE SECOND IN THE F*CKING LEAGUE, IN THE QUARTERS OF THE FC CUP, AND HAVE ANOTHER GAME TO PLAY IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, AT LEAST, YOU CRETIN!!!

To respond to an idiot like you is frankly insulting to me – the concerns raised by me are valid (reg. our display in this game) and our overt defensive set-up and bottling under high pressing are shared by a lot of true supporters.. many are shutting up only coz we are “managing to win” with few moments of quality & desperate for success anyhow after this barren run..

“Magnificent 11 v 11″? – this shows that you don’t understand anything about football.. What do you think caused the penalty and red card? One team content to sit deep relying on counter-attacks vs. a team dominating possession in our half with every second so much it was only a matter of time.. this was the story from start to finish..

It might sound odd, but I thought it was a brilliant performance by the guys. I think the ratings are harsh. Our defensive structure was so damn tight, and I thought both the goals that we conceded were actually a tad unlucky. The way we attacked in the first ten minutes was breathtaking and I hope it isn’t overlooked. We could’ve completely outclassed Bayern had Ozil taken his penalty. It makes me wonder though: why can’t we perform like that against big sides in the EPL? I’ve been oddly pessimistic about our EPL chances lately, but after this game I’m now oddly optimistic. We know we can move the ball quickly, so let’s do it more often.
Sanogo will get stick from people who don’t actually watch the games, but I thought he was brilliant when he had the ball, and looked more classy than Giroud. Everyone had a good game in my opinion, except for maybe Monreal, Ozil (for missed penalty and poor defensive workrate) and Szczesny (who looked good apart from his red card which cost us dearly).

Im glad im not the only one who is EXCELERATED by that performance. the result? – oh well to hell with it. time to focus on the FA Cup and league. MORE of Sanogo plzzzzz!!!! I will take his raw dribles and ball controls over girouds stiffs over and over again. If nothing else that kid is THRICE Faster than Giroud on the run. COYG!!!

Re: Ozil, I don’t think he is playing to the level he, Wenger, we, or anyone else expects… but I still think it’s unrealistic for us to just expect that, just because we spent £42.5 million on him. It’s not that he isn’t tracking back, it’s that he isn’t performing as an attacking player when he has the ball. I think it’s partly due to the price, I still see £42,500,000 as a massive price to pay for any footballer, and I guess I expect him to be ripping good teams to bits every time he gets the ball. But, he isn’t a robot, and even the great Monsieur Pires took a while to settle in. To me, those who are writing him off now are the same ‘fans’ who demanded big signings in the past, and will demand them in the future.

One other note, Mertesacker was v impressive in the after-match interview. If any modern player personifies ‘The Arsenal Way’… it’s him. Also, love the way Flamini manically shouts at anyone and everyone on the pitch. People have/will write us off this season, but there is no doubt that the attitude of such players has really improved us this season.

Can’t say I agree very much when someone says Özil looked like he couldn’t give an arse. Someone pointed out to me that his running tonight was mostly done aimlessly and that he made no effort to nick the ball off Götze or Robben. While I’m an Arsenal fan (therefore inclined to turn a blind eye towards how talented some players who don’t play for Arsenal are), I think any player would have trouble playing against those two.
I’m all for constructive criticism but Özil isn’t shit (anyone who says that is out of their mind), just very tired in my opinion, and the fact that he doesn’t have players like Ramsey or Walcott around him to pick up those sublime passes he makes doesn’t help much.
He’s played what, three full matches in one week? I agree he should be dropped for a bit so he can recharge for DEATHRUN 2. God knows how we’ll need him.

P.S: To that dude who asked if he’s world class because we paid £42.5m for him – it’s actually the other way around. We paid £42.5m BECAUSE he IS a proven world-class player.

We made Bayern Effing Munich look an ordinary side for 20 minutes. Not many teams can say that.
Blessing in disguise. Let’s send the U21s to Munich and focus on PL and FAcup
great atmosphere yesterday!
COYG

The first 10 mins were electric! I cannot really think of a penalty taker that we have in the team at the moment. Cesc was out guy, then at one point we had them lining up TH, DB, Bobby and Freddie all wanting it. The boys cowered away last night.
Up until that moment, Arsenal were flying and it looked like this was going to be the game of the season. Pity about the red card and it did ruin the game but the ref had no other choice. Still hope for the return leg and Fabianski will be sorely missed, very, very good keeper in his own right.
Yaya was the right choice for me, as it was the speed that we needed on the night to set the tone just best laid plans of mice and men…

Ozil is a great player but I seriously think we need to consider resting him for a game or two. Up to now we’ve been getting away with his poor form but yesterday that missed penalty contributed massively to the defeat. It’s not so much that he missed it, it’s the way that he missed it and when the stakes are high you can’t piss about with a run up like that. Look at Szczesny’s upturn in form last season when he missed a few games. Cazorla should start in the middle on Saturday and maybe Ozil will have a decent last 30 mins against tired opposition to rebuild some confidence . Huge game at the weekend – up the Arse!!

Not sure I entirely agree that the sending off completely changed the game. It changed it but it didn’t completely change it. Yes we started well and had the couple of chances and the penalty miss but we weren’t in control of the ball even in these early exchanges. Bayern were closing us down and we had the bounce of the ball. When they had the ball in those early stages they had more time and their passing was accurate. After the sending off it was backs to the wall and the Bayern passing and movement got better and better. We were simply hoisting the ball into midfield and it was just coming back at us or Ozil and Chamberlain were running down the wings surrounded by 3 Bayern players with the inevitable loss of possession. It reminded me of an FA Cup game with us as the plucky underdogs eventually undone by the ref and play acting and superior class.

Whatever you read about the game (and I was there) we as a team are simply nowhere near Bayern even with all the improvements this season. Our forward options of Sanogo, Giroud, and Bendtner are not top class. Defensively, Gibbs is injured again..again..again, and Monreal is ok but we have no back up for him. Sagna is off but will still play ahead of Jenkinson because Jenkinson isn’t ready. The centre halves, as good as they are are still making mistakes and have no cover. In midfield Ozil is suffering, Wilshire continues to give the ball away and make wrong options. We badly miss Ramsey.

This Summer we are going to have to be busy if we want to move on from here.

@Monkey Nuts: Cheers mate.. you are at least one guy who is spot on about our display yesterday (and for some time).. the class between us and the ‘top, top teams’ are dramatically widening..

The simple truth is Bayern are what Arsenal should aspire to be and apart from Ozil (who himself has loads to correct about), the MF and offense need a complete revamp to compete at the highest level.. It is clear Wenger has failed to create truly world-class players there: Jack, being the most obvious case of wasted talent.. Apart from new players, a new Manager is the highest priority at this season-end..

The poor guy (Ozil) looks shattered to be fair. Maybe a bit off point but why was he not rested for games against Crystal Palace? Cardiff? Coventry?? Then to expect him to bust a gut defending 10 v 11, against the best team in Europe? Give the guy a break, in both senses. Please.

Can’t be arsed to read all the posts but skimming through I see there’s a fair bit of Ozil bashing, surprise, surprise. Totally agree with Blogger that it’s absolutely ridiculous. He’s been here five minutes for Dennis’s sake, yes he’s not playing very well, but then who has been lately? Do you people not remember how Dennis, Pires and Henry all took time to settle in? Hopefully he’s here for the long term and will prove just how good he is given time. But like so much in life these days people wanted instant results, which is complete nonsense as far as I can see. So get behind him, and the rest of the team and leave the slagging off to the tossas in the media. THANK YOU!

there was a policy at Arsenal that the person who won the penalty didnt take the penalty, Wenger said he doesnt like the style of Ozils penalty taking….then why the fuck does he let him take them? how many shit penalties will Ozil miss before he is relinquished of his penalty duties

I think Özil should have never taken a penalty in this game. Neuer knows his game perfectly well. In an interview he gave last night, he pointed out he had even analysed the way Özil runs up to the ball when taking pens. Together with his recent lack of confidence and calmness in front of goal, it just seems really odd to let him take it. Seriously, the moment he went down in the box I thought “Please don’t take it yourself!”. Of course, you can always say “if he wants to be a big player he has to take it and score” and that kind of bollocks. But to me, it is all about choosing the player who is best for the job, and that is, even without Arteta, not him when it comes down to penalties. I can imagine the ox would have just smashed it into the back of the net. Love Özil and what he does for the team, but he should stick to what he is best at.

I’m sorry but how has this not been brought up in the bloghttp://youtu.be/VKwwLnkjjEY
Robben shouldn’t have even been on the field to win the penalty and get Szczesny sent off. It’s hard enough playing against Bayern with 11 men, at the moment they’re the best team in the world. I do agree that the penalty miss seemed to knock the wind out of us a bit though, but for 40 minutes we were at least equal with them, or possibly even better. For 60 minutes it wouldn’t fault any of our players as they did the best they possibly could, and 1-0 would have been a bit of a triumph. It was incredibly gutting that the second goal went in and we have to take the game for what it was and move on to Sunderland.

Does anyone else feel that Sanogo coming in feels a bit like Fab coming back in last year? Wenger surprises everyone by starting someone that has barely played ahead of a player who might feel his place in the team is assured…

I was sitting at the end Ozil took the pen. There was some debate before he took it. I’m not sure he really wanted to. Who else could have taken it? More pertinently, why wasn’t it pre-planned, as Wenger knew that Arteta and Giroud weren’t playing?
I’d have given it to the Ox personally. He’s confident, was playing well and can score goals.
The crowd was great last night, even drowning out the german support, so hope we can keep that going. I’m worried about where our goals are coming from though. And it’s fair to be very critical of Ozil’s pen, but no-one berates Jack for constantly giving the ball away, which he did. Let’s get off Ozil’s back.
Bayern have world class in every position. Loved Lahm and Kroos (and Muller). Robben is a jerk but he can seriously play. They have a seriously strong squad.
Credit to Szcz for his save on 4 mins. That kept us in it until his sending off, which was harsh but probably correct (in terms of the rules).

the boys did very well and our game plan changed because of the red card given by the monkey faced Italian mafia of a ref………………………sure he is a S..R fan. There are a lot of positive to take from this game because we match the so called world class team for good period of the game. i hope the team bounce back on Saturday.

People have such short memories regarding Ozul. So he’s had a few poor games, but like I said the other day he’s not the only one, and any accusations of him not trying or being lazy are completely wide of the mark. Shall we write off the fact that he’s been a major influence in us being one point off top spot and in the quarter finals of the FA Cup? Oh yea, I forgot, that’s yesterday’s news and doesn’t make good headlines. Cast your mind back to when we signed Bergkamp,. Henry and Pires, who were all written off by the experts yet turned out to be three of the best players ever to pull on the shirt. Patience is a virtue, you’ll do well to remember that.

For any idiots out there thinking we will turnaround the second leg (or put a better perf. away), this is my question.

If, at home, we need to park the bus and defend this deep (again, even before the sending off) despite a spectacular home support roaring them on, what do you think we will do away?

My guess: We will get a few counter-attacks for sure most of which will be snuffed out by their high pressing defense with crucial fouls – at most, we will get 1 or 2 real chances or goal-scoring situations whereas they will be permanently in our final third holding possession.

I think it is wrong to ostracise him and kudos to Andrew for pointing out some salient facts about his effort.

That said, I think the frustration is simply born from the fact that considering his price and reputation, most just want to see him step up to the plate when needed. Highly frustrating. Hopefully, the miss does not further dent his confidence level cos we still need him to perform in coming weeks.

Major turning point though was the penalty against Szsc. Simply can’t understand how the Ref can let Boateng off but send Szsc off (maybe I can). Had we kept 11 on the field, we would still have been competitive considering Alaba replicated Ozil.

Final nail in the coffin provided in the 86th minute where we conceded the second.

I feel we were light for Europe without an added quality striker who can operate independently and with pace. As decent as Sanogo was being thrown into the deep end, he was not sufficient for us.

Concentration must now focus on domestic challenges. CL return leg should take a back seat. If we got to Bayern, we should go with carefree abandon and just play without restrain. Maybe throw in two fast young wingers (Chambo and Gnabry) to surprise them. All we need is two goals then for the German contingent to really step up and put in penalties properly.